International friendly: Black Queens suffer humbling defeat to Japan

Ghana’s national women’s team, the Black Queens, suffered a 4-0 drubbing earlier this morning at the hands of Japan at the Go Curry Curry stadium in Kanazawa, Japan.

Ghana’s wait to face a top 10 ranked side to measure their progress under Swiss gaffer Nora Hauptle was going according to plan until Portia Boakye was sent off after 23 minutes.

The turn of events early on meant the team had to adjust to varying tactical approaches throughout the game, of which they held their own and kept the Japanese at arms length with impressive defensive displays, keeping the game level at the break.

However, following the resumption of proceedings in the second half, the wheels came off for the team as Japan run riot, capitalizing on the red card advantage to Ghana’s defect.

Mina Tanaka opened the scoring after 51 minutes, before provider from the first goal, Maika Hamano, grabbed Japan’s second on 65 minutes.

Aoba Fujino’s strike two minutes later gave Japan a cushion, before West Ham’s Riko Ueki wrapped up the scoring for the 7th ranked women’s nation. 

The game against Ghana served as a pre-cursor for Japan ahead of the Olympics, as the team look forward to battling Spain, Brazil and Nigeria in group C.

Meanwhile, for Nora and Hauptle and Ghana, the team will look to get their acts together ahead of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, after winning 1 game in their last 5 matches, but will take encouragement from the scoreline as they were walloped 11-0 by Germany — the last time they faced a top 10 ranked side in the world.

–


Story by: Andrews Sefa Bamfo| univers.ug.edu.gh